Country statistics

The very best and definitive report on the state of the nation was produced in 2007 by Prof. Joseph A. L. Kamara Statistician General known as the Sierra Leone Integrated Household Survey (SLIHS) 2003/04. This report is a bit out of date now, but generally the picture hasn't changed very much. The report is easy to read and the information simply presented. These are just some of the quotes:

On age

"The population in general was quite young; about 69 percent of the population was under 30 years of age. There was also high proportion of children in rural areas (45%) than in urban areas (38%). This age structure implies a dependency ratio of 85, which means that on average each person of working age (15-64 years) had at least one additional person to support. Thus government should focus on reducing dependency by creating more jobs for the youths"

On education

"It is important to note that the SLIHS shows 9.2% of all adults (representing about two hundred and seven thousand people) have never been to school. In addition, 55.8% (one million two hundred and thirty nine thousand) went to school without taking BECE at the terminating JSS level (age 12).

"Notwithstanding the fact that English has been an integral part of the curriculum since the beginning of education in the country, only 25% were found literate in British English"

On helping in the community

"At national level, 45% of households participated in community road and bridge maintenances and other community development programs. Others participate in works on community farm (18%), school construction (10%) and election (12%). "

On housing

"In Sierra Leone, the outside walls of houses are mostly constructed of mud and mud bricks (61%), 17% have cement brick walls, while 7% are wood and corrugated iron sheet walls".

On feeding yourself

"It is worth noting that about half a million households (509,315) own hand hoes and about another half million households (506,974) own cutlasses. No household reported ownership of tractors and, or, accessories in Sierra Leone. "

On making a living

"Approximately, 292,887 households, which represented just over one third of the 803,382 households investigated, operated non-farm enterprise of one kind or the other. There were about 389,984 non-farm enterprises; this shows that there were more enterprises than households, indicating that some households have more than one business activity."